Category Archives: Renovation

Chulet’s Oven, Hob and Hood

11 Wednesday Jul 2012

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After the cabinets, I think the oven, hob and hood are the next most important purchase for any kitchen…But, I might be wrong. As I recently learn, some places priority in refrigerator and microwave. Hahahaa… So, it really depends on your lifestyle. For me, I love to cook and bake. So, these 3 items are pretty important to me.

First thing you need to decide is what are your requirements for each of the items? Some might have higher need for the hob while others the oven or hood. So, it really depends on everyone’s individual needs. (e.g. if you have an open kitchen concept, then, you definitely need a really good hood. But, if you are planning to roast turkey, then, you will definitely need an oven which can fit the turkey in!!!)

I have dream of having a free standing oven / cooker since…. forever. I love how these standalone looks and also the capacity I get on the oven. As for the hob, I didn’t have much requirement except that it should have at least 3kW flame and a triple ring burner (Chinese cooking needs fire power! Hahaa..). The hood should have minimum suction of 1000m3/h. I didn’t need a super big suction hood as my kitchen is fully enclosed with window for ventilation.

The first free standing that I was so in love with are from SMEG. These are really beautifully made and it feels really solid. Unfortunately, the prices for one of these are crazy. I was quite keen to stick to my budget for the oven, hob and hood. After browsing around, I came across K’s blog (http://the-malaysia-project.blogspot.com/search/label/Oven). Her post on oven really helped to provide me with the stepping stone I needed with my freestanding cooker hunt. Hub was also glad that I got over my fixation on getting a SMEG. Hohoho…

After months of searching, I finally made my decision to grab the Delonghi freestanding oven cooker and hood during the HomeDec fair. The package price for the freestanding oven cooker, hood (inc. installation), delivery and a free 32cm frying pan was right below my budget too! Yay!!! (Got the picture from the Australian Delonghi website. You can check out the range they have there. The Malaysian model number is slightly different.)

A very important thing to check is the power source required by your appliances. Most of the heavy duty appliances like built-in ovens need higher electric capacity. No point getting your appliances in and then realized that you don’t have the right source! Save yourself the nightmare of hacking, re-wiring and patching. (It will be even more messy if your kitchen is TILED !!!)

Ta-Da, Chulet’s kitchen is finally done. 🙂 It’s exactly like the 3D sketch which I posted previously, except that I remove the top cabinet above the fridge. (Why?! because I have BIG plans for my fridge in future. Muahahaha !!!)

I love my freestanding oven so much. And, my kitchen island counter too…. (sighing in bliss…. )

No trip with 3 Phase

11 Wednesday Jul 2012

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We had the ‘opportunity’ to test the stability of our 3 phase recently.

We left 6 of our air-con on for about 7-8 hours to ‘dry’ our floor. Had some problem with our timber floor which needed to be sand down and re-paint with some hardener. (le sigh…)

Good thing is it is ALL done now. Phew. And our power didn’t trip ! Yay !!!

3 Phase ROCKS !

So, for those who are considering 3-Phase… it might be worth it.

You can check out more here and here.

the Feature Wall dilemma

03 Thursday May 2012

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The advises I got with regards to where the feature wall should be is as below.

1) Should be the wall which is most solid (i.e. no windows / doors and etc)

2) The first wall you see when you walk into a room

3) The place where you wish to draw people’s attention to

Most of the rooms was quite easy to decide on our feature wall. (e.g. For the bedrooms, it is where we plan to put our headboard)

The tricky bit for us was the living room downstairs and the family room upstairs. Generally, most people place it on the wall where they hand their TV. However, for us, that wall is full of holes !!! (Big giant sliding doors)

Finally, I decided to make the wall along the staircase our feature wall. The reason is because I would like to create illusion of continuous flow from downstairs to upstairs. One Giant feature wall connecting 2 spaces !!! Not to mention, I bought some really nice funky wall lights which gives out interesting shadow that would not have stood out if the wall was white. (Fingers cross that it will work out as I imagine)

After deciding on the wall, it was the color next. Generally (in my opinion), it is either you opt for the harmonious effect or the dramatic results. 

As I recently pointed out to my BFF, I find out when it comes to my living space / home, I am actually not very adventurous. hehehe… Hence, I sticked with harmonious effects. So, No daring bold colors for me! (i.e. No neon pink / Chili Red and etc)

But, this doesn’t means that our feature wall ended up with boring tone. You can still get a pretty significant standout feature wall by choosing a darker shade of your overall color scheme. In our case, our house is based on Brown and Greyish scheme.

After some serious paint hunting, here is our feature wall. Painted in ICI Dulux Pentalite Easyclean – Smokey Glass (50YR 22/052). In another shot, it actually leans towards grey… how interesting, eh?

So far this is just the first coat and we are happy with the results. I can’t wait when the whole place finish painting…